This invention relates generally to a folding knife system which can be produced having a folding blade which is manually opened, which has assisted opening, and which has automatic opening from a closed position.
Folding knives are available in at least three varieties. Traditional folding knives have a blade pivotally mounted to a handle, and the handle includes a blade cavity. The blade is movable from a closed, or folded position, generally within the cavity, to an extended, or operable, position, extending outwardly from the handle. It should be noted here that certain folding knives do not have a blade cavity. Instead, the blade, when in the folded position, generally lies along side one or more sides of the handle.
Once the blade is in the extended, or operable position, it may be manually locked in that position by the user, or it may automatically be locked by an automatic locking feature. Many knives, however, lack a locking feature, and the blade, when in the extended position, is held in that position, but can be overcome by the user simply exerting a downward force on the top of the blade in order to move the blade from the extended to the retracted, or folded, position.
Other folding knives are known as assisted-opening knives, and generally require the user to initiate movement of the blade from the folded position towards the extended position, and at a certain point, the blade continues from that point on under its own power. Once in the extended position, the blade may either be locked manually, automatically, or remain unlocked.
A third type of folding knife is known as an automatic knife which requires the user to manipulate a blade release mechanism, which then causes the blade to be propelled, generally under the force of a spring or elastic member, to the extended position.